Textbook Sleep #14: The Mingling of Molecules

Most of us have probably not given much thought to the “mingling of molecules.” For good reason: It’s stunningly boring, no matter how important it may be to our daily lives. Fortunately for us, Carleton W. Washburne wrote an entire chapter on it in his Common Science textbook in 1921, and it’s been waiting 104 years to lull us to sleep. It was meant for high schoolers and yet I suspect you will not be able to follow along— you will be long unconscious before any mingling occurs. I, on the other hand, will have to read it, not understanding any two sentences in a row, as I studied only English back when that was a thing. If the world depended on me for scientific enlightenment, we would be quickly plunged back into the Dark Ages, with no shampoos that both clean and moisturize or other wonderments of our age. Sure, they had cars back in 1921, but no heated seats, no Wolfman Jack, no In-N-Out Burger drive-thru lanes to queue up in. Let us imagine mingling with a Double-Double and begin. This recording will end quietly. Get full access to Pieces of Jim at jimnolan1.substack.com/subscribe